Kennedia prorepens explained

Kennedia prorepens is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to Australia. It is a prostrate, multi-stemmed shrub with trifoliate leaves and pale blue, violet or maroon flowers.

Description

Kennedia prorepens is a prostrate, multi-stemmed herb, the stems up to long. The leaves are trifoliate on a petiole long with broadly egg-shaped to wedge-shaped leaflets long and wide on petiolules long. The flower are pale red, violet or maroon, long and arranged in clusters of up to four long, each cluster with two to twelve or more flowers and each flower on a hairy pedicel long. The sepals are long, joined at the base forming a bell-shaped tube. The standard petal is long, the wings long and the keel long. Flowering occurs from April to November and the fruit is a glabrous flattened pod long.[1] [2]

Taxonomy

This species was first formally described in 1874 by Ferdinand von Mueller, who gave it the name Caulinia prorepens in Fragmenta Phytographiae Australiae.[3] In 1882, von Mueller changed the name to Kennedia prorepens.[4] The specific epithet (prorepens) means "forwards-creeping".[5]

Distribution and habitat

Kennedia prorepens is widespread in Western Australia, its range extending to the south of the Northern Territory, north-western South Australia and western Queensland.[6]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Kennedia prorepens . State Herbarium of South Australia . 23 October 2021.
  2. Web site: Kennedia prorepens . Northern Territory Government . 23 October 2021.
  3. Web site: Caulinia prorepens. APNI. 23 October 2021.
  4. Web site: Kennedia prorepens. APNI. 23 October 2021.
  5. Book: Sharr . Francis Aubi . George . Alex . Western Australian Plant Names and Their Meanings . 2019 . Four Gables Press . Kardinya, WA . 9780958034180 . 284 . 3rd.
  6. Web site: Kennedia prorepens . Atlas of Living Australia . 23 October 2021.